


This is All we Know How to Make

by charlesdarwininthetardis



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Canon Continuation, F/M, Fluff, Make-up, Plot Closure, Post-Descendants 2, Talking, character make-up, discussion fic, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 05:24:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12052230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlesdarwininthetardis/pseuds/charlesdarwininthetardis
Summary: It's the morning after the Cotillion, and Ben and Mal have a lot to talk about. After Mal ran off to the Isle, they had to deal with everything from magic spells to pirates to dragons, and they never actually got a chance to just talk to each other about their problems. Until now.





	This is All we Know How to Make

**Author's Note:**

> Or, the movie needed a lot more closure than it provided and I knew I wasn't going to get it unless I wrote it myself.

Finding her purple scooter stashed behind the bleachers on the Tourney field gave Mal an idea.

Apparently, when Mal had left it behind on the Isle, Uma used it to get to Auradon to find Ben. She stashed it behind the bleachers and ran off, leaving it there in plain view for Mal to find as she walked across campus the next morning to find some food.

And when she saw it, well, a sinister plan formed in her mind.

Well, maybe not a _sinister_ plan, per say, but still. A plan nonetheless.

 

\---

 

Ben awoke to a loud banging on his door.

It was the morning after the Cotillion, and after a late night of love spells, dragon fights, and dancing (not to mention being held captive by a band of pirates on the Isle of the Lost earlier in the day), he had told his royal advisers not to disturb him today unless it was an absolute emergency.

Apparently, someone didn't get the memo.

Either that, or Auradon was burning around him as he slept in, but he sincerely hoped that it was the former of the two options.

As the knocking continued, he sighed and crawled out of his nice warm bed to walk over the cold wooden floor to the door.

He swung open the door, grumpily saying “Whatever it is, it better be important-” until his eyes focused enough to see that his morning wake-up call came from none other than the daughter of Maleficent.

“Mal!” He cried, running his hand through his hair in embarrassment. And then in a much nicer tone of voice, “Sorry, um. You woke me up. What… what time is it?”

She just laughed and threw a purple bike helmet at him, which he caught and held there against his chest.  “It's after noon, you royal sleepyhead. Get dressed. I have a surprise for you.” She turned around to walk away and then called, almost as an afterthought, “And we’re going swimming, so dress accordingly.”

He just stared at her, still trying to process what was happening because Ben, king of Auradon, was not a morning person. As Mal turned around and looked at him expectantly, his fingers felt the hard plastic of the bike helmet he was holding, he realized that she wanted a response. “Oh, yes. Of course. I will meet you outside. Okay.” And as he closed his door to get ready, his eyes fell on the blue leather jacket he had hurriedly hung on the back of his chair while getting dressed for the dance the night before, and he had an idea.

 

\---

 

“Okay, you can open your eyes.”

Ben opened his eyes to find a familiar sight awaiting him. This place held a special significance for him because it was where he took his true love on their first date. It was also significant because the enchanted waters in front of him could break any spell imaginable.

He glanced back at Mal, who looked slightly sheepish but resolutely determined. “Really? You brought me here?”

“Ben, we should talk. About this. About us. About last night. After you and Uma, I just had to be sure.”

Ben nodded and looked back towards the Enchanted Lake. “You don’t think the kiss worked. Because Mal, I can assure you, it worked. I love you so much, I don’t know what I was thinking-”

“You weren’t thinking, Ben! That’s the entire point.” Mal threw up her hands in frustration. “She spelled you into falling in love with her so you would do anything to impress her-”

“Which, don’t forget, you also did!”

“But I realized that wasn’t right! And I gave you the antidote! And you figured it out before I could make you do anything you would regret!”

“That doesn’t matter. The long and short of it is that you also spelled me into loving you so you could get close to me and manipulate me and take down the barrier! You were no different from her.”

Mal was silent for a moment, mulling over Ben’s words. Finally, she spoke. “You’re right,” she said miserably. “And that’s why I need to be sure that I’m talking to you - the real you. Not lovestruck you. Not spellstruck you. Just. You.”

Ben looked out towards the water and nodded. “Alright. This won’t change anything, but if it will make you feel better.” He glanced back at her, a thoughtful look on his face. “This is a two-way street, you know.”

Mal just looked at him in confusion.

“If you want me to swim in the Enchanted Lake, I want you to swim in it, too. Fresh start. No magic, no spells, just us.” He gave Mal a meaningful look. “You promised.”

"But I still don’t know how to swim!” Mal tried to protest, but Ben cut her off.

“That didn’t stop you before.” He gave her a meaningful look, and then he turned around and took a running leap into the lake, proving his vindication that this wouldn’t change anything about him or his feelings for her, and challenging her to do the same. And if Ben was willing to do that for her, then, after everything that had happened, she owed the same to him. She shook her head and ran after him, jumping into the lake feet-first.

As she surfaced, he was waiting for her above the water to give her a quick kiss on the lips. His eyes caught the light, and she smiled, kissing him back.

They swam over to the clearing next to the lake, drying off with the towels Mal had remembered to bring. She finished toweling off before he did, and she turned around to watch him complete the mundane task and marvel again in the fact that after everything, she of all people was blessed to be dating King Ben. But something rested uneasily in her stomach when she thought that.

Ben looked up and caught her watching him. He shook his head and asked, “Okay, you wanted honesty. Let’s start with the obvious. You can turn into a dragon. I admit I was a little surprised by that, but I mean, it’s cool. My dad is the Beast, and sometimes I can feel some of that inside of me. But that’s okay. We are our parents’ children, but that doesn’t mean we are _them_. You know?”

Mal nodded slowly but miserably, and Ben realized something was seriously wrong. He brushed her chin with her thumb, nudging her chin up so she would look at him, really look at him. “Mal, What else are you not telling me?”

She backed away from his kind eyes, looking away until her eyes caught the crowns on his swim trunks and she realized what exactly was bothering her.

If the Enchanted Lake really did work and there were truly no spells working their magic on either of them at the moment, what reason did Ben have to still be dating her?

And if the reason she brought him here was to force him to honesty, there was no better time than now to ask him.

She took a deep breath. “Ben, why are you dating me?”

Ben paused and looked confusedly up at her. “What?”

“Why are you still dating me?”

“Mal, I… Where is this coming from?”

Mal inhales and let it all go. If she wasn’t going to say it now, she was never going to say it. And she really wanted to get this off her chest and know where exactly they stood with each other. “Because you said so yourself: I gave you a love potion to get you to break up with Audrey and date me instead. And it wasn’t because I didn’t think I had a chance with you, as you originally thought. It was to get close enough to you at the Coronation that I could grab Fairy Godmother’s wand and take down the barrier. And even though I realized I was wrong halfway through executing that plan, that doesn’t change the fact that it was literally the exact same plan as Uma’s. I’m no better than her. I have no  more right to date you than she does. So then why was I so angry that she was your date last night instead of me? Why are you still with me? You don’t have to be. There is _nothing_ keeping you with me.”  

Ben’s jaw dropped as he dropped the towel he was holding. There was a beat, and then he started to walk over to her as he sighed sadly. “Oh, Mal, no…”

“Unless.” Mal held up her hand as a thought came to her. Or rather, it was a thought she had often late at night, when she was at her emotional weakest. One she had to push down but was never completely gone from her thoughts. “Unless there is something keeping you here? Unless the antidote didn’t work and you _are_ still under my spell? Unless this entire thing is an act for political gain? Because think about it, Ben: What would possibly be a better political union than the eventual marriage between the King of Auradon and the daughter of the greatest villain of all time?”

“Mal.” That one word stopped her train of thought even as it was still forming in her mind. Ben had reached her and put his arms around her shoulders, causing her to lean into him and put her head on his shoulder. “Mal, I swear to you that I am not under any love spell. It feels different than actual love, you know? That felt like I was thinking about you all the time, trying to please you and express how much I loved you because I _had_ to. Like there was all this fiery desire burning to get out and I had no choice in the matter, like the desire to be with you and please you was a rushing river and everything else that I am was fighting not to be washed away in the current. It was overpowering and insane and unsustainable. The love induced by a love potion is so strong and unnatural, but you don’t realize that until you’re recovering from it and looking back.”

Ben paused, staring off into the distance for a second as he held Mal just a little bit tighter, as if she were his rock when she should have been the opposite for forcing him to feel that way. But soon enough, the moment passed and Ben continued. “This, though. Being with you after swimming in the Enchanted Lake, eating the cookies you made me, your kiss last night... those are good things, and they're why I love you. Why I _really_ love you. This is telling you I love you not because I feel like I will burst if I don’t, but because I _want_ to. It’s having an actual conversation with you about this or homework or anything else other than how much I adore you. And you know I adore you, but this, this true love that I have for you, this is all that but in moderation. It’s spending time with you but also thinking and talking about other things. It’s having you _and_ other duties and responsibilities and friends.

“I’m not mad at you for what you did. You had no way of knowing what being under a love potion would feel like. It’s not like there is magic - or even, dare I say it, love - where you come from, and you were in a place where magic is the easiest way to get what you want so you could make your mother proud of you. Everything you did makes perfect sense when looked at from that perspective. And you _did_ realize that what you were doing was wrong. At the end of the day, you gave me the antidote knowing it would break the spell. You stopped Jane and you looked your mother in the eye and told her that you chose Good. At the end of the day, that means far more than your motivations that got you into that mess in the first place because you learned to see the wrong of your ways.”

“Ben, that just means you’re not mad at me. Why are you still with me?”

“Mal, why shouldn’t I be with you?”

“That’s not the question.”

“I’m not with you for political gain. No one in this kingdom is with each other for  a political alliance. They married each other because they loved each other. I was raised in a kingdom where love is the most powerful magic of all and the belief that true love is out there for everyone reigns supreme. I am dating you because I honestly love you with all of my heart. I hope you can believe that.”

Mal looked at him and smiled. And then, because she didn't know how to respond, she silently laid out a picnic blanket for them to sit on and reached for the food she had packed for lunch. But as she reached for the picnic basket, her eyes caught on a blue leather jacket neatly folded on the ground next to it. She picked it up and looked closely at it.

Ben stood up and walked over to her, holding the other side of the jacket and peering to catch her eyes. “This is the jacket Evie made me so I could blend in while searching for you on the Isle. I brought it with me to show you how much you mean to me.”

Mal let that comment go because she didn’t know how to respond. And also because she was too busy admiring Ben’s jacket.

Instead, Mal nodded approvingly. “It’s got everything: leather, spikes, dark colors, and… is that the Auradon crest? Jeez Ben, you’re such a nerd!” Laughing, she playfully threw the jacket at him.

Ben caught it and carefully put it on, blushing sheepishly. “What can I say? Evie insisted. She said that even if I was pretending to be a VK, Auradon is still very much a part of who I am and I should keep that close to my heart, no matter what.” He fiddled with his sleeves for a second before pausing. “This is a really nice jacket. Evie is super talented.”

Mal looked at him and grinned. Even if he was a nerd, he was _her_ nerd. And he was trying _so hard_. “Yes, she is. But even so, it doesn’t look right on you. You belong in suits and ties, not leather jackets and ridiculous beanie caps.” She laughed at the memory. “No seriously. That beanie looked terrible on you.”

He laughed at that, throwing his head back and letting out a big, hearty laugh aimed at the sky. He looked at her and grinned, the goodness radiating out of his eyes as he looked at her fondly. “I missed you, Mal.”

She looked at him, confused. “Ben, I was only gone for like a day before you came after me.”

”No. I mean, I missed this. Us spending time together, you being your witty and sarcastic self. I love spending time with you, the real you. No, stop looking at me like that. I’m serious! I missed the girl from the Isle. The purple hair. The leather. The girl who is isn’t worried about fitting into that perfect princess mold. The girl who will do whatever she has to to get what she wants. The girl who will take on literal pirates to defend someone she loves.”

Ben paused to take a breath, reaching out a hand to touch her face, and Mal started to say something, but Ben cut her off before she could even form the thoughts in her mind.

“Not the prim-and-proper princess you were trying to be. There are hundreds of girls in Auradon who could be perfect princesses with blond hair and perfect manners. There’s no one like you, Mal. The daughter of Maleficent. Beautiful and deadly. Brave and bold. Bright purple because you can be. Good because that’s who you choose to be, not because that’s what you have to be. And I love you for that.”

Make laughed bitterly at that. “I kind of hate that girl I used to be, now that I think about it.”

“Right! I don’t know who that blond princess that I’ve been dating for the past couple of weeks was, but she wasn't the girl I fell in love with six months ago. She may have done her best to be a suitable girlfriend for a king, but it wasn’t _you_ , Mal. I never asked you to change who you were for me. I didn’t want you to. I know you did your best to become what you thought Auradon wanted you to be. And I know you were doing it for me, but that wasn’t you. And I'm so sorry that I didn't say anything.”

Her eyes flashed at that and she started to speak again, but he reached out to stop her by running his hand through her hair, her gloriously bright purple hair.

“I don't think I realized it because it happened gradually, you know? First it was  you attending more events, then it was the blond hair, and then it was you being polite and smiling demurely during engagements, and it was nice, I guess? I guess I thought it was nice that I had a girlfriend who blended in with Auradon and who was polite and loved, but when I found out you were struggling, I didn't listen. I just yelled at you, and I'm so sorry I didn't stop and try to fix the problem. I didn't realize how much of a strain it was taking on you until you had enough and went back to the Isle. And, to be honest, I didn't realize how much I missed you, the real you, until I saw you in your full glory spray painting that wall in your loft.”

Ben paused as he thought about what he wanted to say next. Mal recognized this and decided it best not to interrupt him. It was evident that Ben was trying as hard as he could to find the right words to tell her exactly what he meant.

“Something clicked for me back on the Isle. I could not for the life of me figure out how to act like a proper villain kid who steals and saunters and intimidates everyone around them just to survive, despite my excellent teachers. But they were different over there. It was astounding seeing how differently they acted on the Isle, how afraid and desperate they were being back there. On the Isle of the Lost, you either rule the streets or you serve those who do, and I didn’t understand that until I actually visited. It is so hard being what you’re not, and I did not realize how vastly different the culture is on the Isle than in Auradon.

“Mal, I love you so much for _you_ , and although I'm flattered that you were willing to adapt to Auradon and what you thought you should be as my girlfriend, I sincerely hope I'm not selfish enough to demand for you to give up yourself or your sanity to do that.”

Mal looked into his eyes and smiled softly. “I love you too, Ben. So much. It doesn’t seem real that I of all people get to date you.” She paused and sized him up. “Look at you! You’re handsome, and kind, and wise, and you’re so good that Goodness with a capital G radiates from you. You walked out of a fairy tale, and I should be the villain in that story. Not the girlfriend. Not the one who has consistently saved the damsel in distress - and by that, I mean _you_ \- no less than three times in six months.”

She chuckled sadly and then sighed. “I guess… I guess I thought that was not what you wanted. You shouldn’t have me; you should have a girlfriend who supported you with your royal duties, a girlfriend you wouldn’t be embarrassed to have by your side when ruling Auradon. You know, not…” she grabbed a strand of her purple hair and started fiddling with it. “Not this.”

Ben looked at her, dumbfounded. “Embarrassed? No! I would never! Mal, I may not have known what I was getting into with bringing you and your friends over here, but I have never regretted or been embarrassed by that decision. Ever. Even if people give me a hard time about it, I just think about how much I - and everyone at Auradon Prep - loves spending time with you guys and I know I made the right decision. Carlos is one of the smartest students Fairy Godmother has ever seen, Jay was a fantastic R.O.A.R captain…or at least, he was until he rightly gave up the position for Lonnie, Evie is revolutionizing Auradon fashion with Doug, and you… Mal, ever since you have made yourself the hero of your own story, you have saved yourself, and me, and _Auradon_ more times than I can count. I have told you over and over again that I love you for who you are. I just want you to believe that.”

Mal smiled and leaned over and kissed him. “I am trying, Ben. I really am. But this will take time. I spent the longest time thinking that I didn't need love, that I wasn’t worthy of your love, that you being with me was bad for the kingdom. If you’re willing to do this, you and me, just as ourselves, then I am more than willing.” She broke away and looked at him pointedly. “But you have to promise to keep the paparazzi off the school grounds.”

Ben nodded. “Yes, that was getting a little ridiculous.”

Mal snorted. “A little?”

Ben laughed and nodded, the moment only broken by his loudly growling stomach.

Mal laughed and then reached over to grab the picnic basket she had packed earlier. She saw Ben looking at her with his eyebrows raised. “Don’t worry. I didn’t use magic this time.”

“Oh no, I was just thinking that I am so glad you brought lunch. I am absolutely starving.”

“Well, if you didn't sleep until noon, we wouldn’t have this problem, now would we?” Mal grinned cheekily while biting into her sandwich.

“Honestly, after the day I had yesterday, I say I deserve it. Pirates, sword fights, love spells, you name it, I faced it. So what did you make?”

She reached into the baskets and triumphantly pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Ben grinned, took a big bite out of his sandwich, and closed his eyes from pure delight. “Mmmm. You know, I wasn’t kidding when I said peanut butter was my favorite.”

“Honestly, I’m glad, because it’s about all I know how to make.”

Ben laughed and kissed her on the cheek. “I don’t care how well you can cook, I still love you so much. Peanut butter and jelly or not… But if you would like to learn, I can maybe connect you with Tiana’s daughter?”

Mal leaned her head on Ben’s shoulder. “You know, I’d like that.”

And they sat like that for a while, looking up at the clouds and enjoying each other’s company until they decided to pack up, head home, and get on with their newfound life together. Maybe it wouldn’t be perfect, but if they were honest with each other, it would be good. After all, this was all they knew how to make.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So that bit about Uma taking Mal's scooter back to Auradon and stashing it under the bleachers is canon... if you count the copy of Mal's Spellbook that I found at Target last month to be canon.
> 
> Thank you to @emotionalcorn for reading this for me. This was written in a large part for you, and I'm glad that you enjoyed it!


End file.
